Remote control display system



y 1965 J, w. CHRISTENSEN 3,192,656

REMOTE CONTROL DISPLAY SYSTEM Filed Aug. 2, 1962 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR.

JOHN W. CHRISTENSEN A TTORNE Y5 y 1965 J. w. CHRISTENSEN 3,192,656

REMOTE common DISPLAY SYSTEM Filed Aug. 2, 1962 I5 Sheets-Sheet 2 .36 IIIIIIHIIIIH Fla. 4 INVENTOR.

JOHN W. CHRISTENSEN ATTORNEYS July 1955 J. w. CHRISTENSEN 3,192,656

REMOTE CONTROL DISPLAY SYSTEM Filed Aug. 2, 1962 s Sheets-Sheet s L FIG.3.

INVENTOR. JOHN W. CHRISTENSEN aw 1 WQMA A TTORIVEYS United States Patent This invention relates to display apparatus, and 'more particularly to means for visually displaying multi-digit numerals, words, or other information, each unit of which may be individually controlled from a remote point.

Visual displays of numerical data and the like are used in many applications and various forms thereof have been devised. One Well known usage of such apparatus is in the posting of results, such as election returns, game scores, stock quotations, etc., on a board or panel for public viewing. 'TO be effective, the display must not only be large enough and clear enough to be properly televised or viewed, but the individual digits of the display must be capable of being changed rapidly at will to form the desired combination. Furthermore, the changing of digits must be effected from a remote point, so as not to obscure the display; Where changing of the display is almost continuous, such as in the posting of election returns for television purposes, the ability to control the individual digits rapidly and remotely is of great importance. 7

Another factor of some concern in visual displays of this character is the available density of display. In the commonly used drum type of display apparatus, wherein all of the possible digits for a given unit of the display are imprinted on the peripheral surface of a drum rotatable about a horizontal axis, the vertical spacing between rows of digits for a drum containing 10 or 11 digits must be in the order of four times the height of the display digit, to accommodate the drum. Therefore, on the display board the rows of digits must be relatively widely spaced compared to the height of the individual digits. A further drawback of this type of presentation lies in the fact that, unless a polygonal drum is used, the surface of the digit to be displayed is curved, which presents illumination problems when the data is to be televised or photographed. With the polygonal drum, relatively accurate angular positioning is required to eliminate illumination problems associated with the indicia bearing polygon face being nonparallel to the plane of the display window.

Accordingly, it is the primary object of the present invention to provide improved display apparatus which may be selectively controlled from a remote point.

A further object of the present invention is to provide remotely controlled display apparatus wherein the digits displayed appear on a substantially flat surface.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide improved display apparatus wherein the spacing between horizontal rows of digits may be in the order of twice the height of the digit, or less.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide novel remote control switching apparatus for a display apparatus which may be readily operated by inexperienced personnel and which uses a minimum of power.

. Briefly, the display system of the present invention consists of a display portion and a control portion, interconncted by a multi-conductor cable of a length permitting actuation of the display apparatus from a remote point. Each display unit of the apparatus, which for example may be used to post numerical data, comprises a plurality of flap-like elements having indicia-bearing surfaces which are mounted on a shaft for rotation therewith. The individual elements are mounted such that each adjacent pair will assume a substantially co-planar relationship as they are rotated into registry with a viewing frame, in book page fashion. The digit to be displayed is made up of the in- 3,192,656 Patented July 6, 1965 dicia appearing on the two exposed surfaces of the adjacent elements. Cooperating spring and detent means are provided on the elements and viewing frame respectively, to positively establish the co-planar relationship. I

A small motor, stepping mechanism or other actuator is provided for each shaft. The motor operation is controlled by a switching means in the control portion which may be manually actuated to cause rotation of the shaft until the desired indicia appear in the viewing frame. The switching means includes a plurality of contact positions, one for each separate indicia on the corresponding display unit, and a bridging member connecting all of the contacts thereof together except the one corresponding to the selected indicia. A cooperating mechanism is coupled to the motor and includes a like number of contacts and a contact arm driven by the motor which successively meets the contacts as the motor operates. When the contact arm on the motor actuated mechanism reaches the contact corresponding to the seleced contact at the remote switching means, power is removed from the motor and rotation thereof ceases, displaying the desired character.

Each display unit, consisting of the viewing frame, the shaft supported elements, the drive motor, and associated switching contacts and arm, is mounted on its individual support rack. The cross-sectional dimensions of the entire unit structure are just slightly greater than that of the digit actually displayed, and dense stacking of individual units in a panel is possible. Similarly, the switching controls are of small size, enabling them to be mounted densely on a remote switching console connected to the respective units by a common cable.

The foregoing and other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become more readily apparent from the following detailed description thereof, when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 illustrates a typical display arrangement according to the invention with its remotely located switching console;

FIGURE 2A is a side view of an individual display unit in partial section showing the inner workings thereof;

FIGURE 28 is a top view of the display unit in partial section taken along the line 2B-2B;

FIGURE 2C is a front view of the display unit;

FIGURE 3 illustrates the electrical switching arrange ment of the invention; and

FIGURE 4 is a front view of a modified form of display unit.

The overall arrangement of the present invention is illustrated in FIGURE 1. The display portion indicated generally at 10 comprises a support rack 12 in which are mounted in a plurality of individual display units 14. Each. of the display units 14 includes a viewing frame 16 within which are enclosed the indicia-bearing surfaces. As indicated by the break in the drawing, any desired number of display units 14 may be mounted in side-by-side relationship as shown, enabling numbers of any size to be displayed. Moreover, although only one horizontal row of display units is shown, the rack 10 maybe modified to house several rows of display units spaced as close to one another as the viewing frames thereof will permit. For the sake of simplicity, how ever, only one horizontal row has been illustrated.

The control panel 18 of the apparatus may be located at any point remote from the display portion and is coupled thereto by an electrical cable 20 within which .are enclosed the necessary conductors. The control portion 18 incorporates the selecting switches to be discussed hereinbelow and is provided with a plurality of control knobs 22, one for each selecting switch, which may be manually rotated to select the digit desired. As can be seen, a separate control knob is provided for each of the display units in the display portion and they individually controlled thereby. Suitable legends applied to the panel adjacent each control knob to able the operator to rapidly select the desired digit for display. In the example illustrated, the digits one through nine and zero may be selected and two blank positions are indicated for such additional characters as may be required. An ON-OFF power switch 24 is also provided on the control panel.

Referring now to FIGURES 2A, 2B and 2C, each individual display unit 14 comprises a base plate 30, at one end of which is mounted the viewing frame 16. A bracket 32 is fastened at the other end of the frame for mating with a suitable receptacle in the support rack 12, and a pair of support arms 34. maintain the viewing frame 16 rigidly braced with respect to the base plate 3t).

The display elements 49 carrying the indicia-bearing surfaces are supported just rearwardly of the viewing frame 16 in a pair of hubs 36, which are in turn fastened to a vertically disposed shaft 38 for rotation therewith. As shown best in FIGURES 2B and 20, each of the display elements 40 is generally rectangular in shape and made of a thin, relatively inflexible material. Each of the elements is provided with a pair of ears or lugs 40a near the respective ends of one of the longer sides thereof. The ears in are received in corresponding openings 36a provided in the hubs 36.

The shaft 38 is journalled at its upper and lower ends in supports 42 bolted or otherwise fastened to the viewing frame 16. Between the lower supporting journal 42 and the opening provided in the base plate 30 for the shaft is mounted a gear 44 in driving relationship to the shaft.

The cars or lugs 40a at the tops of the elements 40 are elongated and extend through the holes 360 in the hub 36, as shown in FIGURE 2A. Around each of these extended ears 40a is mounted a torsional spring, such as the coil spring illustrated, having one end thereof fixed to the hub 36 and the other end to the end of the ear 40a. Instead of mounting the springs on the upper lugs, the lower lugs, or both upper and lower, may be extended and the springs mounted thereon. The springs are wound to urge the elements 40 to rotate in the counterclockwise direction, i.e. in the same direction as shaft 38. A guide plate 48 having a carefully shaped, generally semi-circular cut-out portion in its forward edge is mounted on a pair of supporting posts 50 and is maintained accurately positioned with respect to shaft 38. As seen in FIGURE 2B, the guide plate serves to maintain individual elements 40 fanned out from one another, so that upon rotation of the shaft 38 in the direction indicated by the arrow, the elements will tend to drag and thus remain separated.

Also mounted on the base plate 30 is the drive motor, or actuator 52. The motor may be of a continuously operating type such as a synchronous or clock type motor, or, may be a stepping switch or similar device. In the embodiment illustrated, the motor is of a synchronous or clock type with permanent magnet poles, which will stop immediately upon removal of electrical power. It is important that means be utilized to prevent coasting or overrun of the motor after removal of power, various such means being well known to the art.

As with conventional clock drives, the motor 52 is provided with internal gearing which drives a shaft member 54 at a relatively slow speed. A pinion gear 56 is fastened to the lower end of the member 54 and is driven thereby. An idler gear 58 is journalled on a shaft 60 threadedly engaging the base plate 38 and couples the rotational motion of the pinion 56 to the gear 44 on the display element mounting means. Therefore, application of electrical power to the motor 52 will rotate the display elements 4-9 with the shaft 38 and successively display the indicia-bearing surfaces of the elements 4 40 in the opening provided in the viewing frame, in the manner of flipping the pages of a book.

Torsional springs 46, which tend to rotate the ele ments 4t), enable the elements to flip across the opening in the viewing frame at a speed considerably greater than that of the revolution of the shafts 38. The elements 40 are retained in substantially co-planar relationship by means of detents 60,62 provided in the viewing frame opening. The detent 60 is merely an inward extension of a lower corner of the opening sufficient to catch the corresponding corner of the element 40 to prevent it from flipping over as a result of the spring action. The detent 62 is disposed rearwardly of the opening to accommodate the thickness of several, e.g. four, elements. Referring to FIGURE 2B, it will be seen that when a pair of complementary indicia-bearing surfaces on successive elements 4% are in registry with the opening in the viewing frame for display, they are in the same plane and substantially parallel to the front face of the frame. In this position, the gap between the two surfaces is minimal and does not detract from the legibility of the character displayed thereon.

When it is desired to change the display to the next digit, the shaft 38 is rotated a predetermined angular amount by the motor 52. The extent of the rotation is sui'licient to allow the upper element 40 (as viewed in FIGURE 2B) previously maintained in the viewing frame by the detent 60 to move past the detent and flip to the lower position. The action of the spring 46 will also urge the following element into contact with the detent 60. At the same time, the innermost of the lower r elements held by the detent 62 is pulled past the detent and all of the remaining elements 40 are moved within the guide plate a certain distance.

Also mounted on the shaft 54 coupled to the motor 52, is a contact arm which rotates relative to a fixed contact plate 72. The latter is fastened to the base plate 30 by any suitable bracket 74 and is provided with a plurality of contacts electrically coupled to the terminals 76. The function of the contact arm 70 and contact 72 will be explained more fully in connection with FIGURE 3. Conductive leads 78 couple the respective terminal 76 to a multi-terminal socket 79 mounted on the bracket 32. The electrical leads for the motor 52 are also coupled to the socket. Preferably, the socket 79 is mounted in alignment with a mating plug in a support rack, whereby insertion of the entire assembly 14 into the rack will both physically align the display unit and make the necessary electrical connections.

The switch means and control wiring is illustrated in FIGURE 3. The motor 52, as indicated by the dotted lines, rotates the contact arm 70, which includes a tab portion 70a disposed to successively meet the contacts 73 on the contact plate 72 as it rotates. An additional con tact 75 is so disposed on the plate 72 as to be continuously in contact with the arm 70. Each of the contacts 73 is conductively coupled through a terminal 76 corresponding to one of the characters to be displayed, the motor 52 and the display elements for being suitably aligned with respect to the tab 70a. Conductive leads from each of the contacts 76 on all of the contact plates 72 of the several display units in the rack are coupled through their respective sockets 79 (FIG. 2A) and thence via a multiconductor cable 77 to its respective switch. If desired, a plurality of the cables 77 may be incorporated within a single cable housing, such as shown at 20 in FIGURE 1.

Each of the selector switches in the control panel 18 includes a fixed contact plate 82 having a plurality of contacts 84 corresponding to those on the plate 72. The knob 22 rotates a contact plate provided with a notch 80a in its periphery. As can be seen, the contact plate remains electrically connected to all of the contacts 84 except that disposed in registry with the notch 800, which as will be explained hereinafter, corresponds to the selected digit to be displayed. All of the contacts 84 are '5 conductively coupled to the'terminals 88, and to the corresponding terminals 76 on the plate 72, via cable 20. An additional contact 86 is provided, which continuously remains connected to the contact plate 80 regardless of the angular position thereof.

A source of electrical power 90, such as alternating current, has one terminal thereof connected to the motor 52 and the other terminal connected to the contact 86 on the switch means. The other input terminal of the motor is coupled by a conductive lead to the contact 75 on the contact plate 72. The switch 24 selectively opens or closes the power circuit.

To explain the operation of the circuit, let us assume that the numeral 4 has been selected for display. To affect this, the knob 22 on a panel 18 is rotated until its pointer is opposite the digit 4. This places the notch 80a opposite the corresponding terminal 84. At the same time that the motor 52 rotates the display unit to present the digit 4 in the viewing frame, it rotates the contact arm 70 until the tab 70a is in contact only with the terminal corresponding to the digit 4. At this point, the operating circuit for the motor 52 is opened and a digit 4 will remain displayed in the viewing frame until another number is selected.

To display a different digit, for example the numeral 7, the knob 22 is rotated until the notch 80a is oriented opposite the contact associated with the digit 7. Now, since tab 70a is still in contact with the contact corresponding to the numeral 4, a circuit for the motor 52 is completed from the lower terminal of the power source 90, through the contact 86, the contact plate 80, the terminal 84, corresponding to digit 4, the lead connecting the corresponding terminals on the contact plates 72 and 82, the contact 73, the tab 70a and contact arm 70, and finally through the contact 75 to the motor, the other terminal ,of which is also connected to the power source.

The motor then commences to rotate and moves the contact tab 70a to the succeeding contact on the plate 72. Since this contact also completes a conductive path through the contact plate 80, the motor will continue to operate to further rotate the tab 700:, which is made just wide enough to bridge two adjacent contacts 73. Operation of the motor will continue until the contact tab leaves the contact 73 corresponding to the display digit 6 and meets only the contact corresponding to the digit 7. At this point, the notch 80a presents an opening in the power circuit and the motor 52 stops. The numeral 7 is now displayed in the viewing frame.

When it is desired to change the digit again, the knob 22 is rotated through the selected position and the motor 52 operates as described above. It will be noted that although the motor 52 is arranged to operate in one di rection only, the selector knob 22 may be moved in either direction, whereby the manual rotation necessary to effect a change of display can always take the shortest distance between the previous and selected digits.

It will also be noted that the selection mechanism also provides a memory function. If the switch 24 is opened, it will be realized that the motor 52 will not operate regardless of the position of the knob 22. However, if a digit is selected with the switch open, and the switch subsequently closed, the actuating motor 52 will then commence to operate to bring the selected digit display into registry with the frame opening. Thus, all of the digits of a multi-digit number may be pre-selected with the power off and then simultaneously changed when the power is reapplied.

A modification of the arrangement of the display elements is shown in FIGURE 4. The shaft supporting the display elements is mounted horizontally, whereby the elements 92 flip downwardly as indicated by the arrows. Since gravity will pull the upper element automatically to its lower position once it is released from its upright position, no springmeans are necessary, although they may be used where a more positive action is desired, or

where the frame is at an angle with the vertical. A detent 96 retains the upper elements 92 in the proper upper position. The elements 92 are constrained to a limited angular movement in their respective hubs 93 and a guide plate or housing having a function similar to that of plate 48 is utilized to maintain proper separation of the elements 92. A detent 94 maintains the lower elements in proper position, although for certain uses and where springs are not used on elements 92, this detent may be eliminated.

It can be seen from the foregoing, that a simple versatile display apparatus is provided capable of a wide variety of applications. Each individual digit display is a self-contained unit and the units themselves may be readily stacked in various configurations as desired. Power requirements are minimal since the digit display may be operated with a low power consuming motor and power is consumed only during the time the digits are actually being changed. Although in the embodiment described, a small gear motor has been used, it will be realized that if desired, a stepping switch such as of the solenoid wound spring variety or other actuator may be used in its place. Moreover, push buttons may be used in place of the rotatable control knob, in accordance with well known techniques. It will also be apparent that while the illustrated embodiment enables selection of desired digits when the display units are not visible to the operator, where the display units are within his view, the switch structure may be replaced with a simple ON-OFF button or knob, enabling him to maintain power applied to the motor means for the length of time required to present the desired digit. These and other modifications will become apparent to those skilled in the art, and accordingly, the invention is not intended to be limited except by the scope of the appended claim.

What is claimed is:

Apparatus for displaying a multi-digit character comprising, a support rack for holding a plurality of individual display units, one for each digit of said character, the respective display units being readily removable from and insertable in said support rack, each of said display units including an elongated base member, a viewing frame mounted at one end of said base member, a rotatable shaft carried by said base member, a plurality of elements having indicia-bearing surfaces mounted on said shaft to be carried therewith upon rotation and selectively exposed in said viewing frame, a motor mounted on said base member and coupled to said shaft for rotation thereof, said motor being of the synchronous type which will stop immediately upon removal of power, a source of power for said motor, a multiposition selector switch for each of said display units for controlling the application of power from said source to said motor, each of said selector switches having a plurality of contact positions equal to the number of separate indicia on said elements and a movable contacting member bridging all of said contact positions except the selected position, a like plurality of contacts associated with said motor and supported from said base member, a contact arm operated by sald motor for successively meeting said contacts, means including a multi-terminal electrical connector on said base member for electrically connecting each of said contact positions on said selector switch to corresponding respective ones of said contacts associated with said motor, means coupling said contacting member to one termmal of said power source, the other terminal of which is connected through said multi-terminal electrical connector to said motor, means including said connector for coupling said contact arm to said motor, whereby power will be applied to said motor until said contact arm meets the contact connected to the selected contact position on said selector switch, and a common control panel remote from said rack for mounting said selector switches.

(References on following page) References Cited by the Examiner 2,958,028 10/60 Smith 318467 UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,972,093 2/61 Silhavy 318467 X 1/21 Kehms 4O 72 FOREIGN PATENTS 10 33 gflxby 40 53 ,21 5/57 l aly- Haselton X Great Bl'ltaifl.

6/49 Keil et a1 340-147 12/57 Papitto 318-467 I 5 Nerds/[mm 31 4 7 JEROME SCHNALL, Primary Examiner.

9/60 Hatfield 318-467 X 10 E. v. BENHAM, Examiner. 

